Chicago's NCAA Heroes

Chicago Oddities: A Collection of Weird News Tales

Smith thinks the bleacher bums are selling the metal for scrap. He says it will take about $50,000 to replace the benches, which were valued at $150,000 when they were installed.

"I want the person who took those bleachers away, I want to see them in jail. The second thing is, the person who bought those bleachers from the person that took from here, I want that person in jail," Smith said.

Mugs in the News

The heists are disappointing to the students, staff and faculty at the school, who just dedicated the field and bleachers this past fall.

"We never really had bleachers. And at this point, it's like when you finally get something, and you work so hard to get it, but when you finally get it somebody takes it away from you," said senior Hakim Pinklyn.

The aluminum-loving thieves starting swiping seats a couple months ago, and the school has been running surveillance cameras since then. But their efforts have turned up nothing.